The Walking Dead is currently one of the most popular television shows on the planet. Its compelling characters, thought provoking storylines an unapologetic violence has seen the series increase its ratings and viewership for almost five years. In fact, the next two months will not only mark the beginning of its sixth season, but also a brand new prequel series titled Fear The Walking Dead.
Certainly not bad for a series many doubted would last more than one season. However, if there is one aspect of Fox’s gritty survival drama that viewers share a love/hate relationship with…it’s the fact that fan-favourite characters are frequently featured on the chopping block. Although this is a fundamental aspect of a series built around a post-apocalyptic America, it’s always heartbreaking when that time comes round to say goodbye to certain characters.
One of the most recent actors to exit The Walking Dead, is Chad Coleman, the man who played Tyrese for three years before leaving in the second half of the recently-concluded fifth season. Luckily, I was fortunate enough to speak to Coleman about his time on the series, the upcoming prequel/companion, and finally what lies ahead for the incredibly talented actor. Check it out below!
Were you a fan of the original Walking Dead graphic novel?
Coleman: No, I knew nothing about the show or graphic novel. All I knew was that it had a cool poster, with a guy holding a big gun! That’s all I knew.
Were you much of a Zombie fan originally? With recent supernatural monster movies becoming quite watered down in Hollywood, did The Walking Dead’s traditional approach entice you?
Coleman: Yeah man! I was a big fan of the classic stuff, but I’m also a big fan of things like 28 Days Later.
The Walking Dead is now the highest rated show in the US and has consistently risen in popularity with each season. How does it feel to have been part of such a monumentally popular television series?
Coleman: It’s the highest rated show around the world man! So it’s very surreal really. I mean, I’ve never experienced this level of success and fandom before. Sometimes when I think about it I’m just like ‘wow!’…it’s so surreal.
Were you happy with how your character ‘Tyrese’ exited the series this season?
Coleman: I was extremely happy. Scott Gimple did an amazing job…I felt like it was an homage to the man! [Laughs] If you didn’t know who Tyrese was, then you definitely did by the time the episode was over. Even if you had never seen him before you would probably grieve for him a little bit.
Tyrese is a character who maintained his moral integrity whilst other members of the group became increasingly ambiguous and dark. Would you agree that he acted as the moral centre of the group?
Coleman: I do! I do…Well to an extent. I wouldn’t necessarily say the ‘moral centre’ because we all have degrees of morality within us. But it was more the intentional awareness he had of morality. It’s like ‘okay, I got you thinking!’ But it doesn’t mean you’re going to make the same decision as me. Tyrese just made people think about things a little bit more.
THN: So he put those kind of moral decisions to the forefront of the audiences view really then?
Coleman: Yeah! Exactly! I mean there were times when Tyrese didn’t even want to deal with the issues. [Laughs] It was kind of like ‘I don’t want to deal with that! I’m just putting this out there, but you two do what you want to do’.
THN: [Laughs] I don’t blame him at all!
With the upcoming prequel/companion series ‘Fear The Walking Dead’ airing this Autumn, is there any potential for an appearance from Tyrese?
Coleman: No, they said that they don’t really want to have any cross-pollination and that the show has to stand on its own. Also, they’re probably not going to move at a pace that would catch up with the current timeline anyway. There’s so much to deal with already that if you brought us in it would compress the run time of the season.
THN: That’s true it does have to live on its own if the series hopes to be a success.
Coleman: Man I can’t believe I’m coming up with this stuff! [Laughs] That was a good answer!
THN: It was a great answer! [Laughs]
Coleman: It’s true though. They don’t want to compress time like that, so you won’t see any of us.
Now that your time on The Walking Dead has concluded, what projects do you have lined up for the future?
Coleman: The next thing I have coming up is called The Expanse. It will be on the Sci-Fi network in December and it stars Thomas Jane. It features an amazing international cast…We got folks from The Hunger Games and a lot of other shows. So, it’s a pretty amazing group and the series is also based on a best-selling novel, Leviathan Wakes. The story takes place 150 years in the future and we’re out in space…so I’m really excited!
Chad Coleman, thank you very much.
